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Science-based strategies for positive & productive purpose-driven cultures, peak-performing teams and outstanding leaders
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3232A holiday message from all the team at Open Waterhttp://www.open-water.com/2018/12/17/a-holiday-message-from-all-the-team-at-open-water/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/12/17/a-holiday-message-from-all-the-team-at-open-water/#respondMon, 17 Dec 2018 11:39:50 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1466 We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Open Water

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/12/17/a-holiday-message-from-all-the-team-at-open-water/feed/0What L&D leaders need to consider when planning and budgeting for 2019http://www.open-water.com/2018/11/22/what-ld-directors-need-to-consider-when-planning-and-budgeting-for-2019/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/11/22/what-ld-directors-need-to-consider-when-planning-and-budgeting-for-2019/#respondThu, 22 Nov 2018 10:01:31 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1455Learning and development leaders are under more pressure than ever to prove ROI. They need to ensure that development ties in with individual career goals and performance as well as addressing team performance – often across multiple regions. They must also be able to make a strong and direct connection between the learning outcomes and…

]]>Learning and development leaders are under more pressure than ever to prove ROI. They need to ensure that development ties in with individual career goals and performance as well as addressing team performance – often across multiple regions. They must also be able to make a strong and direct connection between the learning outcomes and organisation’s strategic goals or business outcomes.

When so many organisations are putting the brakes on business travel and it’s hard to justify taking talent off the road for any period of time, that’s no small feat.

Is tech the solution?

It’s no wonder many L&D leaders are looking to technology as the panacea. AI-enhanced learning technology, or machine learning, implemented via a Learning Management system (LMS) can adapt to each learner and deliver personalised learning that can be tracked and linked to performance. However, personalised learning in this way has little or no impact when the ultimate goal is to drive and sustain a cultural change.

When an organisation needs to change its culture in order to deliver its goals the focus has to shift from individual digital learning to face-to-face human interaction. This is because culture is driven by shared values and beliefs. It’s about social behaviours, emotions and responses when engaging with others. It’s about unity and coming together over a shared vision and purpose. When culture change is the route to reaching the desired outcomes then it becomes essential to plan for face-to-face learning and follow up with digital learning such as webinars or virtual sessions, coaching and social learning. When it comes to cultural change, a blended learning approach containing all of these elements and tailored to your requirements, gives you the best of all worlds.

Cloud-based social learning

While an LMS often integrates with other functions like performance and goals or even compensation, it is the social learning capability that will help drive culture change and embed new behaviours once the face-to-face interaction has taken place. An external social learning platform is cloud-based, secure and means you don’t need to give external providers access to your system. They can simply create, curate and customise content for your specific program needs that can be easily accessed via a link – either within your LMS or separately – whatever guarantees best ease of use. This cuts out the need for complex, long-term integrations. It’s also cost effective: if you later expand the program or roll it out to different regions you can either simply add the additional licences you need while you need them, adjusting the content as required to new business outcomes or regional nuances.

Winning with metrics: data & insights

Learning is most often measured by what an individual remembers immediately after a training session in one format or another; success is measured by how many individuals complete the program. This is typical, for example, of many compliance programs that are rolled out. In face-to-face learning, at most, an organisation may gauge a level of engagement or satisfaction with the learning experience.

When it comes to creating the cultural change that is needed to ensure new thinking and behaviours are learned and embedded, organisations need a proven methodology that will give them meaningful metrics around knowledge, attitudes and behaviours acquired. And they need to evaluate them at different points in time following a program of learning, usually immediately, after 3 months, then 6 or 9 months. The methodology used, and the results captured should create data that is hugely valuable and insightful: how to structure learning, where learning increased, when new attitudes and behaviours were implemented and why.

From tailored to precision learning

By running a pilot program with a rigorous methodology for gathering data and analysing the results, L&D leaders will have all the insights they need to demonstrate success before rolling out the program to other regions or groups within the organisation. However, it is not just about showing award-winning results! Metrics, good data analytics and insights will allow L&D professionals to understand how the program is performing and see where they need to fine-tune and adapt it. Not only will it create a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement, but it will drive this shift from being a tailored learning experience to precision learning – learning that is relevant, effective and efficient on a deeply individual level.

Selecting an external learning provider

When the stakes are high, as they so often are when working with your organisation’s leaders to drive cultural change, L&D professionals need to know they can rely on the expertise, capabilities and the relationships they hold with the external provider. Consider how they are able to partner with you. It’s as much as how they do it as what they do:

Can they offer you a program that will reflect the context and challenges of your industry and link the learning to your organisational goals?They should have in-depth sector knowledge with case studies that can demonstrate that.

They should also be able to conduct diagnostic interviews and use the insights so that they can tailor the content to reflect the realities of your organisation.

Do they have a verified program of learning metrics? Are they able to measure knowledge, attitudes and behaviours before a learning intervention and then at different periods of time in the following months to demonstrate the results and ROI?

Are they prepared to create a pilot program and provide demonstrable results and help you build your business case internally for rolling the program out more extensively?

Can they provide you with a social learning platform that is cloud-based, secure and easy to use?

Can they help create and curate engaging content including video, webinar materials that will help sustain learning and embed behavioural change?

Ultimately, it is a lot easier to demonstrate success in learning and development when you work closely with a partner that has the expertise and methodology as well as a track record of measurable results.

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/11/22/what-ld-directors-need-to-consider-when-planning-and-budgeting-for-2019/feed/0Connections Matter: Never Stop Learning with Open Water’s New Alumni Communityhttp://www.open-water.com/2018/10/16/never-stop-learning-with-open-water/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/10/16/never-stop-learning-with-open-water/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 11:40:09 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1434Open Water launches new alumni group Open Water is excited to launch its new alumni members group which is free to join for anyone who has completed an Open Water program. Open Water Alumni will benefit from free refresher webinars, new insights and savings on executive coaching. They will also be invited to join a…

Open Water is excited to launch its new alumni members group which is free to join for anyone who has completed an Open Water program.

Open Water Alumni will benefit from free refresher webinars, new insights and savings on executive coaching. They will also be invited to join a LinkedIn group where they can connect with like-minded Open Water alumni where they can continue to share, learn and develop. It is a key step in ensuring that learning is sustainable and that Open Water continues to add value beyond the client engagement.

Open Water Director of Operations, Marika Cysouw says:

“LinkedIn has become a key tool for personal branding and social influence in business. Often leaders are hesitant to post and comment on articles and their own thinking. Having a closed group where they can comment and blog and receive positive feedback from other alumni will be a great way to build confidence.”

The organisations that work with Open Water have clear business objectives they need to achieve like improving their leadership capacity, boosting sales, driving change initiatives or transforming culture. At a delegate level, attending an Open Water programme is much more about a personal transformation- a journey that will ultimately lead to their peak performance as a leader and a team member, and impact their careers going forwards. Open Water equips individuals with the tools and techniques that will last a life-time and often is a catalyst for deep personal change. The learning experience does not finish when the face-to-face program ends.

Open Water Program Delegates share a unique experience

Open Water MD Ben Shoshan explains: “Taking part in an Open Water program, regardless of the length gives participants a new vocabulary, new frameworks and an experience that is unique to Open Water and familiar only to people who have gone through our programs. This creates a shared understanding and a sense of community. By creating the Open Water Alumni Group, we are recognising the power of that community and encouraging our alumni to stay connected and keep learning and developing as leaders and managers.”

Open Water Alumni will shortly be receiving a personal invitation to the alumni group outlining the benefits and enabling them to join the group on LinkedIn. The first webinar will take place towards the end of November.

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/10/16/never-stop-learning-with-open-water/feed/0Inspiring Leaders in Indiahttp://www.open-water.com/2018/09/10/inspiring-leaders-in-india/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/09/10/inspiring-leaders-in-india/#respondMon, 10 Sep 2018 17:40:01 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1407An 8-month journey of personal and professional growth culminates in a talent-filled graduation event for Capgemini’s Powerful Leadership Program Delegates in Pune, India. Capgemini’s ambition is to be the #1 Top Tier Technical and Professional Services Consulting firm globally. To do this, they needed to enhance their offshore leadership capability. While around half of its workforce…

]]>An 8-month journey of personal and professional growth culminates in a talent-filled graduation event for Capgemini’s Powerful Leadership Program Delegates in Pune, India.

Capgemini’s ambition is to be the #1 Top Tier Technical and Professional Services Consulting firm globally. To do this, they needed to enhance their offshore leadership capability. While around half of its workforce are ‘offshore’ – based in India and Eastern Europe, offshore talent is under-represented at VP level and above. Capgemini want to bring the number more in line with their Western hubs.

Open Water designed a blended leadership programme to fast-track this group of high potential senior managers by taking them through a series of high-level modules based on the principles of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). The programme included influencing and coaching skills, and authentic and resonant leadership. The program was part of a wider Capgemini initiative

24 leaders from Capgemini’s cloud infrastructure business in Pune, India took part in a tailored leadership programme that would develop the global mindsets to prepare them for VP-level positions and make them stronger candidates for promotion.

A rigorous measurement methodology ensured the results met everyone’s expectations; following the face-to-face component, 46% of job critical behaviours were being implemented and were still in place 3 months later.

More than 60% of the delegates reported that this was the most powerful learning intervention they had ever experienced:

“I would like to thank Ben, Oliver, Mike and your team for this excellent learning experience. This has been very effective compared to other sessions I attended in past. This entire program will have a very good impact on my professional and personal life.”

“This program has equipped me with knowledge, tools, resources to manage my beliefs, emotions & behaviors – with this, I will be able to manage my performance. I could actually feel the Open Water vision – that you can change the world by just influencing one person at a time. You have influenced all of us in our own way. I am sure we all will make a difference in this world in our own way. This has been one of my best learning experiences. I would like to thank you all for this experience, it will remain with me throughout my life.”

“I’d like to thank Ben, Oliver, Mike, and the rest of the team too, for taking us on a fantastic development journey. This has to be among the most impactful training sessions I have attended.”

Following the graduation ceremony in which the delegates demonstrated their new-found presentation and communication skills, Ben Shoshan, MD of Open Water who led the team of coaches on the Powerful leadership program thanked the delegates for their amazing efforts and participation in the programme. He went on to say:

“Open Water has worked with Capgemini since 2003, but this has to be one of the most satisfying and rewarding projects we have been involved in. We are truly impressed and delighted to see how far each of the delegates has come. Thank you to all of the team at Capgemini who are committed to developing top talent, for your support and for helping us create and deliver the best program we could”.

Congratulations to all the program delegates! We wish you all every success in your mission.

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/09/10/inspiring-leaders-in-india/feed/0MEASURING IMPACT IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMShttp://www.open-water.com/2018/08/24/measuring-impact-in-leadership-development-programs/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/08/24/measuring-impact-in-leadership-development-programs/#respondFri, 24 Aug 2018 14:21:07 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1380The compelling evidence for measuring mindset and behavioural change in face-to-face leadership development programs How metrics rooted in science helped prove that a highly-customised leadership development program really did exceed expectations What makes a successful leadership program? The energy in the room, the chemistry amongst the delegates, the relevance of the material delivered and even the charisma of…

How metrics rooted in science helped prove that a highly-customised leadership development program really did exceed expectations

What makes a successful leadership program? The energy in the room, the chemistry amongst the delegates, the relevance of the material delivered and even the charisma of the facilitators all play a part in reaching a high NPS score and positive feedback at the end of the day.

In a changing world of work, when many organisations have invested in online learning platforms, L&D budgets for face-to-face learning are being seriously squeezed. Often senior management, many of whom have attended leadership programs themselves, are cynical about the value of face-to-face learning. Today’s leadership programs need to prove that they are providing relevant knowledge and creating lasting changes in attitudes and behaviours long after the feedback sheets have been handed in and the end-of-program group photo is shared on social media.

When we were approached by Capgemini – world leaders in the IT services industry – to discuss how we could help them further develop growing talent in one of their regions, we knew that we needed to invest as much time and care into designing how its impact would be measured as we did into designing the leadership program itself. This would be a pilot program and the results key to demonstrating that lasting change in behaviours through face-to-face mindset and leadership competency training is not only possible, but recommendable.

Our brief was clear, we would work with 24 leaders from Capgemini’s cloud infrastructure business in India to help them develop the global mindsets that would prepare them for VP-level positions and make them stronger candidates for promotion.

Pune, India: Photo by Atharva Tulsi/ Unsplash

Breaking the Cultural Glass Ceiling

India is Capgemini’s largest block of “off-shore” employees – 100,000 people and growing leadership talent. These leaders needed help breaking through the “cultural glass ceiling” and preparing them to deliver on the organisation’s goal to excel as a tier one tech consulting firm.

Capgemini’s culture is strongly rooted in Europe. We needed to harness the positive traits characteristic of Indian business culture such as their strong work ethic, their attentiveness to the client and their ability to learn new things quickly. To thrive in a global leadership role, they would need to become more comfortable learning to say “no” and understand that they were not letting people down but managing expectations. Likewise, learning to lead in situations where a “command and control” style is not appropriate or learning to turn outcomes into a set of questions to empower others to perform would make them more effective. They needed help acquiring the behaviours and the emotional intelligence to drive leadership performance and personal excellence that would translate to Capgemini’s global environment.

Capgemini’s Powerful Leadership Program

During the 5-day, face-to-face “Powerful Leadership Program”, the delegates would explore and develop personal peak performance strategies and beliefs.

They would learn how to influence and build trust and how to empower others to work more effectively. They would gain clarity around personal values and priorities as well as acquiring a framework for success based on personal responsibility and accountability.

The program is designed to make a profound impact on leadership and culture with a strong focus on driving performance. The foundation for the program was rooted in the Cultural Iceberg Model (E. Hall,1976) and in Open Water’s experienced approach to changing individuals’ thinking patterns and aligning their personal values and beliefs through increased emotional intelligence.

Working closely in partnership with the L&D leaders responsible for the initiative was critical. Capgemini have a well-documented leadership competency framework with six pillars or ‘Leadership Dimensions’.

These include the ability to build profitable businesses, developing others, and embodying the values of the organisation. We mapped these leadership dimensions to show how they related to the program outcomes and the methodologies used. This helped demonstrate the relevance of the program to the organisation and gave us an understanding of what behaviours and attitudes were required.

Creating an Impact Map

Open Water’s methodology starts with client diagnostics that enable us to build out an impact map. We start by plotting the organisational goals against the program goals to make sure we are aligned both in content and context. An important part of Capgemini’s vision is ‘to excel as a tier one global tech consultancy’.

We built out a list of organisational goals that our 24 leaders would need to accomplish in order to make it happen. We were then able to identify the job-critical behaviours they would require in order to achieve those goals. Having pinned down the desired behaviours, we were able to determine the program’s specific learning outcomes – and the desired impact.

As any L&D leader will know, it’s all very well designing a program that appears to achieve the desired outcomes. The real test is the extent to which a learning program can actually change behaviours and how long and deep those changes are embedded. The bedrock to Open Water’s approach is the use of highly relevant and experiential methodologies and frameworks to make that kind of change happen.

Empowering Continued Learning

Key to this, is the ability to hand over ownership of continued learning to the participants themselves. We wanted to have them interacting with each other in order to deepen the learning and further embed new behaviours. Using Open Water’s social learning platform OWL, we custom-designed a continuous-learning offering that would kickstart the learning process before the face-to-face program and continue to engage and assist learning, long after the face-to-face program had ended. To this end, we created five additional modules with extra content, discussions, exercises and assignments on a customised platform. We also used webinars to bring delegates together at different points in the process.

Measuring Success

How much can you actually change an individual’s behaviour in order to drive a cultural change? To measure the success of the program we used a highly validated self-assessment process – more appropriate than a 360 assessment given the learning’s heavy focus on personal beliefs and values, self-awareness and self- management.

We used the learning outcomes derived from the impact map to develop the questions we would use to measure cultural transformation in terms of knowledge, attitude and behaviours (KAB).

The evaluation process has three stages:

Pre-test: where we evaluate knowledge, attitudes and behaviour before the program in order to have baseline results to compare with future results.

Post-test: where we evaluate knowledge and attitude (or ‘learning’) immediately after completion of the face-to- face program.

Job-test: where we evaluate knowledge, attitude and behaviours three months after program completion in order to measure the impact and how well the learning is being applied.

The system that Open Water uses to measure program success has been developed over 25 years. It is a robust, highly-validated tool, resulting in 90% accuracy.

As a self-assessment tool it is efficient and has far greater accuracy thanks to the inclusion of critical incidence thinking as well as specific hierarchical taxonomies for the most accurate measurement of knowledge and attitude learning.

Powerful Results

So what of our pilot program results? With the pre-test scores providing the baseline, our participants exceeded the benchmark targets scoring a high 87% in ‘Learning’ of Knowledge and Attitude in the post-test results. This demonstrates an impressive positive shift of 42% Learning directly after the program. The results also showed that the existing learning gap had closed by 77%, which was also above the targets we had set.

In assessing how much new knowledge and attitude was gained and sustained during the Powerful Leadership program, results were again above target, with an impressive 91% of new knowledge and attitude being retained three months after the program ended.

However, the most significant result, and perhaps the most critical one when it comes to assessing the success of the program, is the development of participants’ job- critical behaviours. These increased from 31% to 77%. This uplift of 46% indicates just how relevant and effective the program was, resulting in a major move in desired job-critical behaviours, within just three months.

Making the Case

Given the nature of the program’s content – mindset & behavioural change, shifts in beliefs and perspectives – these results have far exceeded expectations and create compelling evidence of what can be achieved with a well- designed, well-measured program.

Naturally, there are other factors external to the learning and development component that will help continue to embed the change and ensure leaders are more effective. Organisations need to ensure that KPIs and rewards are incentivising the right kind of individual behaviours and attitudes; coaching has to become intrinsic to line management and every effort made to support the cultural transformation.

Ultimately, if organisations truly want to make lasting change happen, they need to understand that results are affected by what people do, and what they do is affected by emotion and belief. And these results can, and must be measured.

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/08/24/measuring-impact-in-leadership-development-programs/feed/0How to Collaborate with your Competitors for Continued Successhttp://www.open-water.com/2018/08/13/alignment-of-mindset-critical-to-alliance-success/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/08/13/alignment-of-mindset-critical-to-alliance-success/#respondMon, 13 Aug 2018 11:56:14 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1355Why alignment of mindset, beliefs and values is critical to the ongoing success of a strategic alliance. “Collaboration between competitors is in fashion”. That’s the first line of a Harvard Business Review article written 30 years ago (Collaborate with your Competitors – and Win, HBR, Jan-Feb 1989, Hamel, Doz & Prahalad). Over the decades, the…

]]>Why alignment of mindset, beliefs and values is critical to the ongoing success of a strategic alliance.

“Collaboration between competitors is in fashion”. That’s the first line of a Harvard Business Review article written 30 years ago (Collaborate with your Competitors – and Win, HBR, Jan-Feb 1989, Hamel, Doz & Prahalad). Over the decades, the number of strategic alliances between firms collaborating with another to build secondary markets, accelerate speed to market or innovate has doubled – possibly, tripled. A good example is the pharmaceutical industry.

Between 2000-2002, investment in global alliances in the pharmaceutical industry grew 75% reaching $US19B (Cortada & Fraser, 2006). Today, we continue to see alliances between competing organisations in the pharmaceutical industry as they each attempt to maximise their market share and leverage their unique specialisms.

Open Water has also witnessed an increasing number of alliances being formalised between our traditional banking clients and fintechs – the fast-growing financial technology firms. It’s a way for old-school banks to ‘become cool quickly’, speed up digital transformation and create easy, seamless experiences for a new generation of smart phone customers.

For fintechs, the collaboration signifies an opportunity for banks to adopt their services and introduce them as new features to a mainstream public of an existing customer base. This saves them costly customer acquisition. Together, they hope to be strong enough to defend their positions against “Big Tech’: Google, Apple and Facebook. To put it in context, the top five banks in Europe have 100 million combined customers; Facebook has 2.25 billion monthly active users and will be offering financial services in early 2019. In this scenario, successful alliances can mean the difference between survival or extinction.

Best-practice in alliance management

But not all alliances will succeed. There is research that suggests that 50% of alliances simply don’t make it. PwC analysed 50 alliances across nine industries and identified five stages of an ‘Alliance Lifecycle model’: Initiation, Formation, Growth, Maturity and ‘Reinvent/Decline/Exit. (PwC, 2014) They used interviews and data analysis to identify the critical elements that organisations were implementing, across the five stages of the lifecycle, to ensure a successful partnership. The resulting model would help establish best-practice in alliance management.

Strong personal relationships, effective leadership, good communication, building a team that embraces the vision, and forming a common alliance identity are all included as key success factors in the first two stages of the PwC model.

However, it’s one thing to recognise that these factors are necessary – another is making them happen.

When alliances underperform

In 2014, Open Water Development was brought on board to work with the Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb alliance team. The alliance had been created to develop and commercialise an innovative new drug. The drug had had been on the market for a number of years but was failing to meet its expected market share. A new alliance leader from Pfizer was brought in to identify why it was under-performing. He quickly became aware that there was a disconnect between – and within – the leadership of the alliance. Everybody shared the vision and the mission. Everybody expected this product to do well. The problem was a misalignment about how to get there. Put simply, the alliance business team wasn’t working.

Mindset, beliefs and values

Mindset, beliefs and values are the foundation of identity. If an alliance is to start well and grow successfully the team needs to celebrate its differences. This is what creates the value-add and is the raison d’être of the collaboration. They must then focus on what unites the team so as to operate from a single team identity rather than cling to the identity of their legacy organisations.

Open Water set about creating a shift in mindset, purpose and identity to create a genuine collaboration that would see a step change in performance. Implementing methodologies founded in the principles of emotional intelligence and cultural change, we were able to help the alliance team members create an environment of trust and build a culture of winning. The results paid off; the alliance saw a step up in business performance as the projected $1 billion brand became a prospective $5 billion brand after just six months.

The alliance turns four

Fast forward to 2018. Many of the original BMS-Pfizer alliance team members have built on their success and taken their skills and knowledge elsewhere. Its leaders have moved on to effect change in other parts of the business. The vision and mission of the alliance are still shared but the people have changed. The alliance has new leaders, new team members and new ambitious targets to meet. Different relationships on both sides of the alliance mean different communication styles and beliefs could undermine the winning mindset they enjoyed as top performers.

What is becoming clear is that unlike many of the activities that PwC identified within each stage of their Alliance Lifecycle, building trust, realigning values and beliefs doesn’t just happen in one stage and then never again. Rather they need to overlay each of the stages, each one building on the first.

Working with Open Water over the last few weeks, the new leaders of the BMS-Pfizer alliance have quickly established the importance of creating a unified identity: one team, ‘one alliance’ . And more importantly, how to achieve it.

Secrets of a happy alliance

Alliances are often aptly described as marriages. When two people leave their families to create a new one of their own, they still respect and have feelings of loyalty to their parents and in-laws. But if the relationship is going to thrive, the new spouses will need to recognise they now have new priorities. They’ll fend off the expectations, demands and judgements made by the in-laws. They’ll bring to the table only the best of their family traditions and themselves – with a focus on their new family goals and future.

Today, the BMS-Pfizer alliance have re-aligned their mindset, beliefs and values and re-affirmed their identity as ‘One Alliance’. There is no doubt in my mind that they are setting themselves up to continue growing and outperforming their targets. By continually aligning mindset, purpose and beliefs, collaboration between competitors can win – and stand the test of time.

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/08/13/alignment-of-mindset-critical-to-alliance-success/feed/0Positive Mindset – the Key to Success in Change Managementhttp://www.open-water.com/2018/06/29/positive-mindset-the-key-to-success-in-change-management/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/06/29/positive-mindset-the-key-to-success-in-change-management/#respondFri, 29 Jun 2018 16:23:23 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1287Journalist Halina Guryn interviewed Ben Shoshan for an article published in one of Poland’s leading HR publications Personnel & Management to find out how having a positive mindset is the key to success when it comes to change management. HG: What are the key competencies of an authentic and effective leader in organizational change…

]]>Journalist Halina Guryn interviewed Ben Shoshan for an article published in one of Poland’s leading HR publications Personnel & Management to find out how having a positive mindset is the key to success when it comes to change management.

HG: What are the key competencies of an authentic and effective leader in organizational change management today in turbulent times?

Ben: When considering authentic & effective leadership, it needs to be separated into the ‘WHAT’ and the ‘HOW’. The ‘WHAT’ refers to leadership pre-requisites which include a clear vision, specific goals, and the strategy for achieving those goals. When it comes to the ‘HOW’, the old-style ‘Command & Control’ leader is becoming less relevant. Instead, the ability to let go and only lead rather than manage is crucial. A great mindset for a leader to nurture is seeing himself/herself in the service of his/her people. To use a PULL rather than PUSH strategy i.e. coach rather than manage, thereby empowering and inspiring individuals to do and want to do the best they can, is extremely powerful. In other words, effective and authentic leadership is about managing emotions and guiding the hearts and minds of the people in the business.

HG: How can a manager or a leader recognise the mindset of people in their team? What are the best methods and tools for diagnosing mindset?

Ben: First and foremost, managers and leaders need to be interested in each individual and value their ideas and contributions. With this PULL approach in mind, the best methods are powerful intelligent questions which not only focus on facts but also dig deeper into opinions, feelings, and beliefs of the individuals. Developing insights on people’s world views as well as having an understanding of how perceptions and beliefs impact our emotional state, and how that drives our behaviours is very important. A manager’s sensitivity to how individuals behave in different situations is another fundamental skill of a great leader.

A whole host of instruments / measurement tools are available which allow the manager and leaders to see where each individual sits on the development curve. There are also many instruments that can be used to uncover people’s communication styles, their level of EI, their leadership capability, including psychometrics. All of which can serve to help managers recognise and understand the mindsets of their teams.

HG: In what ways can a manager/leader help employees change their mindset during the change implementation process? What steps do they need to take to begin changing mindset? And should they communicate to their people about changes in their work environment?

Ben: One of the best validated and well-researched change processes comes from John Kotter who highlighted 8 steps of successful change implementation. A key first step is creating a compelling reason to change: the ‘burning platform’ – in other words a sense of urgency. This will have to be aligned with the ‘What’s in it for me’ (WIIFM) piece for each individual. This requires a certain amount of ‘PULL’ and the ability to step into the shoes of the employees. Once we have established what the story is and why it is important to the individuals, the ‘how’ to communicate will become much clearer.

HG:What is the role of top managers, line managers and HR professionals in this process?

Ben: Top management needs to gauge the appetite of the people and then deliver the message. Following that, they need to continue to drive and support. A selection of top managers from across the organisation should form part of the ‘guiding coalition’ i.e. the ambassadors who are constantly reinforcing the change messages.

Line managers need to lead change in their teams by walking the talk, involving their teams in customising the ‘WIIFM’ for each individual, as well as coaching and motivating desired behaviours.

HR professionals can fulfill the key role of advising project leaders in skills available within the organisation – identifying any skills gaps, training needs, new posts, and new working practices.

HR professionals and line managers should support, empower – by this I mean elevating the level of expertise and treating people as experts thereby increasing ownership and confidence -, coach, and stimulate a level of comfort within this environment of uncertainty. It is important for both line managers and HR professionals to identify people’s differing responses to change, and help individuals work constructively through change.

HG: What are the most effective methods and tools in mindset change?

Ben: Some of the most effective methods and tools I have come across and used include:

1. Coaching to uncover individual’s drivers, ‘WIIFM’ and values

2. Models such as Blanchard’s Skill-Will matrix allows a manager to access the best coaching style for each individual

4. The ability to make the link between values, beliefs and goals is a very powerful skill of any coach, and especially those in leadership positions.

HG: What are the key risk factors that managers and HR specialists have to take into consideration when managing change? How can they solve conflicts between people and their different needs and be during the change process in the organisation?

Ben: If this refers to the context of the change journey, then the number one priority must be to do with awareness of where we are on the change curve. An obvious risk may be to lose sight of where we are or the desired outcomes:

Ensure incremental steps are manageable so that progress can be seen

Remember to celebrate small successes

Continual feedback to the ‘guiding coalition’ as well as updates for individuals on the change journey

Conflict is a necessary part of a fruitful and dynamic process. And as long as the ‘why’ and the goal are continuously reinforced and re-clarified, and people’s intentions are sufficiently aired, then this will be a healthy and constructive process. Make sure that people have platforms to voice their concerns and feel that they are listened to. Encourage involvement of people in the process.

HG: What advice would you give (top managers and HR managers and specialists) who want to successfully build positive mindset of employees and who want to link strategic goals and key value’s system with individual goals of people in organisation?

Ben: A famous quote from a UK minister when asked what advice he would give to aspiring consultants on how to succeed at one of the Big4 firms highlighted two things:

1. “Be Cheerful, because it’s more difficult for someone to tell you off when you’re cheerful.” I translate that as understanding your emotional state because that will affect others.

2. “I’ve always found the best way to be interesting is to be interested.” I think this is so true and so important for any manager. If the desired outcome is to link strategic goals to personal values and individual goals, then how can you do this without understanding the individual first? Therefore being interested is a critical first step.

Once we know what the individual goals and values are, it becomes easy to link these to the strategic goals of the organisation. You can’t link individual goals without knowing them, and that’s why you will need to start with being interested in the individuals.

This interview was first published as an article in the Polish magazine Personnel & Management, August 2014

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/06/29/positive-mindset-the-key-to-success-in-change-management/feed/03 Simple Steps for Public Speaking Successhttp://www.open-water.com/2018/05/16/3-simple-steps-for-public-speaking-success/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/05/16/3-simple-steps-for-public-speaking-success/#respondWed, 16 May 2018 20:23:18 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=1134In a survey conducted a little while ago into mankind’s greatest fear, public speaking came first on the list. Death came third in that survey, which in effect is telling us that, were you to speak at a funeral, you would actually prefer to be in the coffin than standing in front of it! …

]]>In a survey conducted a little while ago into mankind’s greatest fear, public speaking came first on the list. Death came third in that survey, which in effect is telling us that, were you to speak at a funeral, you would actually prefer to be in the coffin than standing in front of it!

It’s crazy to think that, according to that particular survey, we would rather die than ‘stand and deliver’, so it’s worth having a think about the factors that stand in the way of our being relaxed, authentic and natural on our feet.

There are 3 main factors:

1. Focus on the audience

There is a saying in my industry to the effect that nerves are essentially selfish.A little judgmental, perhaps. But the statement poses an interesting question:• who are you focusing on when you are nervous? Yourself or the audience? The answer is plain.So, a nice little trick is toremember that a speech or presentation is not something to be survived, but instead it’s an opportunity. An opportunity to inspire, excite and captivate your audience. They don’t want you to fail – they want you to fascinate them!

2. Focus on what really matters

I was giving some coaching to a very senior executive a little while ago, who was preparing to go before the board of a public company for an amazing job opportunity. He was talking with great excitement about the fact that he had to be ‘on his game’ and to ‘know his stuff’. Both good points and very important to make sure of -but as far as getting the job is concerned, he was focussing exclusively on the rational elements -his knowledge and his content. What he was missing -and it really showed -was the emotional element. His beliefs, his thoughts and how he presented himself. People buy into things emotionally.

They may justify this decision rationally, but the limbic -or emotional brain – will respond to emotional rather than rational stimulus.N.B. -It’s important that the rational material is in there -in other words, ‘knowing your stuff’ will get you onto the short list, along with other candidates that also know their stuff; but what will get you the contract -or the sale – or the engagement, is how people buy into you. You are your biggest asset -it’s not the slides (rational), or the content (rational) that you discuss that makes the difference -it’s how you present yourself. how you engage with your audience and how much they trust you and empathise with you at the end of your presentation, or speech (emotional).

3. Rehearsal

Think about the theatre for a moment. If anyone suggested the thought of putting on a play without rehearsals, he or she would be laughed out of the theatre. It’s inconceivable to think of not rehearsing a play and it should be the same with your speech or presentation.

Barack Obama, widely recognised as one of the world’s great orators, looks natural and at ease when he speaks. Do you think he practices? You’d better believe he does. He hasn’t reached the level he has reached through natural ability alone The old golfing adage – ‘The more I practice, the luckier I get’ isn’t just limited to golf. Public speaking is a great case in point.

The rehearsal process has several benefits:

Firstly, it ensures the smooth running of your speech, by ironing out any ‘clunkiness’ or lack of cohesion, both in subject matter and delivery.

Rehearsal allows you to feel more practiced, therefore more professional and therefore more confident.

Rehearsal allows you to get the timing of your speech right. There are few things worse than running over -it makes you look unprofessional -and there is no worse feeling as a speaker to run out of things to say before your slot is ‘done’.

Final word of advice – Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Lastly, on the subject of yourself. try and remember that in the grand scheme of things the presentation or speech you are about to make really isn’t the ‘be-all and the end-all’. It’s a presentation, that’s all. It’s your job to communicate a message as best you can, tut no-one’s going to die. The more you carry this thought into bigger and bigger stages and higher and higher stakes the more it will make sense to you.

It made the difference as I was about to walk out on stage in front of my first audience of 500 people. And if you remember to use it – it will help you too.

Oliver Medill is an Open Water Coach and author of the book The Impact Formula (£14.99, Panama Press) available on Amazon.This article first appeared in the Hertfordshire Business Independent, May 2018.

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/05/16/3-simple-steps-for-public-speaking-success/feed/0Why Today’s Leaders Need Emotional Intelligence More Than Everhttp://www.open-water.com/2018/03/21/why-todays-leaders-need-emotional-intelligence/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/03/21/why-todays-leaders-need-emotional-intelligence/#respondWed, 21 Mar 2018 13:38:42 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=176We all know someone who didn’t exactly shine at school, but went on to be hugely successful in their chosen careers. The reason is simple: IQ – the standard measure of intelligence – is only one aspect of doing well. The other aspects involve our abilities to empathise, to fit in, to understand and manage…

We all know someone who didn’t exactly shine at school, but went on to be hugely successful in their chosen careers. The reason is simple: IQ – the standard measure of intelligence – is only one aspect of doing well. The other aspects involve our abilities to empathise, to fit in, to understand and manage ourselves and others. These are the principles which underpin Emotional Intelligence or EI.

Daniel Goleman, psychologist and author defines EI as: “The capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.”

There have been numerous studies showing that EI makes the difference between a highly effective leader and an average one. In today’s competitive knowledge-driven organisation, highly effective leadership is more important than ever. Today’s leaders – from top executives to line managers – must have more than just the right technical and soft skills. As organisations become leaner, flatter and more fluid in order to compete effectively, leaders need to optimise their personal resources. And that starts by developing high levels of emotional intelligence.

EI is a powerful resource. It can make a positive difference to the quality of decision-making, leadership, customer loyalty, creativity and innovation. The key to competitive advantage in our knowledge-driven economy is behaving in a more emotionally intelligent way. Then you can harness the potential of your organisation’s greatest asset – its people.

Emotional Intelligence and personal power

Think about it from a leadership perspective. Why do you do what the boss tells you to do? And when you are the boss? Why do others do what you ask them to do? There are really only ever two answers; either because you have to, or because you want to. People either do what is asked of them because you are the authority and they fear the consequences of not doing it; or because they trust you and believe it is the right thing to do and they are motivated to do it.

As a leader you have a choice of using positional power, making people do what you want because they have to – or personal power, which is the power you wield when you want to motivate and engage people. Both kinds of power are going to be relevant and necessary at a given time in a leadership role. However, ask any leader, if they had a preference, which kind of power they would prefer to operate from. Almost without exception the response is always: ‘personal power’. In reality though, it is often easiest for leaders to default to positional power as the easiest way to get things done despite preferring to use personal power. Emotionally intelligent leaders will use personal power effectively to get the results they want.

Dramatically Better Results

Taking people with you when they are motivated and willing gets results that are dramatically better. When people are motivated and want to do something they become much more resourceful, more innovative. They tend to make better use of time. They can do more with less. Enthusiastic about what they are doing and why, when people are motivated and want to do something they tend to communicate, engage and collaborate more with their peers. Overall performance is much higher and results are dramatically better.

In his article, “What Makes a Leader?” (HBR’s 10 Must Reads, May 2015), Goleman refers to a study by American Psychologist David McClelland who found that when an organisiation had a critical mass of emotional intelligence amongst senior managers they exceeded the year’s earnings goals by 20%. In other areas of the organisation without a critical mass of EI, they underperformed by the same amount.

Emotionally intelligent leaders who exert personal power to get the results they want must also have the courage to give people permission to experiment and take risks without fear of failure or retribution. Achieving a culture of trust is a two-way street. And the rewards are significant.

Harvard researcher, Paul J. Zak, Founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics, Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University, and author of ‘The Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performing Companies, AMA 2017’, has found that when compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, and 40% less burnout.”

It seems to me that has never been a stronger case for developing a critical mass of emotional intelligence within organisations that want to increase performance, enhance innovation, do more with less, improve collaboration and build trust.

]]>http://www.open-water.com/2018/03/21/why-todays-leaders-need-emotional-intelligence/feed/0How the Powerful Leadership Programme Makes an Impacthttp://www.open-water.com/2018/03/11/video-post/
http://www.open-water.com/2018/03/11/video-post/#respondSun, 11 Mar 2018 18:03:10 +0000http://www.open-water.com/?p=69Open Water Coaches Ben Shoshan, Mike Summerfield and Oliver Medill traveled to Pune in India this month to deliver a new programme The Capgemini Powerful leadership Programme. Watch the short video (1.36m) to find out how it went and what the delegates said about their learning experience and the impact it would have on their…

]]>Open Water Coaches Ben Shoshan, Mike Summerfield and Oliver Medill traveled to Pune in India this month to deliver a new programme The Capgemini Powerful leadership Programme. Watch the short video (1.36m) to find out how it went and what the delegates said about their learning experience and the impact it would have on their performance as leaders.

Whether you are looking for improved executive alignment, increased clarity around vision, role and goals or developing a new generation of leaders to be more emotionally intelligent, Open Water has over 10 years experiences creating bespoke leadership development programmes that have a direct impact on business goals and outcomes.

Get in touch and let us know how we can bring alignment to your teams.